Michael LeDuc

Michael Leduc served in the Marines during “Operation Venom Fury,” the attack on Fallujah. Before the attack, the battalion’s legal counsel told them the strict rules of engagement under which they had previously operated would not apply to this assault. They could call in artillery or air strikes on a building if they just felt unsure about what they might find: “reconnaissance by fire.” People with weapons, cell phones, binoculars—or even people with white flags if they did anything but approach slowly and obey orders—should all be killed. “I joined the military … to do something good to improve the whole human situation,” he says. “And I felt good about myself a few times. [But] for the most part, I was just doing what I had to do … whether it was breaking the rules or following them, doing what I thought was right or what I knew was wrong.”